Greenleaf (1970) is credited with introducing the Servant-Leadership approach. This approach is characterized by a “bottom-up culture,” whereas the leader helps followers achieve organizational goals. This is different in comparison to the “command and control” leadership style that tends to be employed in organizations (Tiaki, 2014).
Greenleaf goes further to build a list of 10 principles to which have been correlated with servant leadership:
1. Listening
2. Empathy
3. Healing
4. Awareness
5. Persuasion
6. Conceptualization
7. Foresight
8. Stewardship
9. Commitment to the growth of people
10. Building community
Out of this list, I argue that patience should also be a principle to which a servant leader needs to have. Without patience, often leaders lose sight of the fact that some followers may require additional time to grow and not every follower learns or does certain things within a certain time frame.
Within the military, I was placed in a leadership role in which I needed to teach new soldiers how to fuel helicopters. I had deployed with my unit the year prior, and during the time we were deployed, new soldiers had just been waiting on the unit’s return to start training. I had to remind myself to be patient with these new soldiers as they had not had any guidance whatsoever over the course of our deployment.
Nelson Mandela provides a good example of a man who lived to serve others. He put the needs of others in front of his own needs. He spent a considerable amount of time in prison simply for wanting to serve others at the cost of his own freedom.
Greenleaf, R.K. (1970). The servant as leader. Westfield, IN: The Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership.
What is servant leadership? (2014). Kai Tiaki : Nursing New Zealand, 20(1), 19. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1510299342?accountid=13158